The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that Abbas asked the PLO to invite the constitution committee to convene to draw up the constitution by September. The PLO’s Executive Committee said in a press statement following its meeting in Ramallah on Sunday night that the constitution should be ready within six months.
The Palestinians want to draw up their constitution and build their national institutions as part of their preparations to declare their independent state in September, though peace talks with Israel stalled last year over a dispute on Jewish settlement buildings in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The United States, which sponsors the peace process, set September as the time for the completion of the negotiations and promised to support the Palestinians to have a full membership in the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Abbas asked for the activating a committee to reform the PLO in accordance with the 2005 Cairo agreement. The committee consists of the president of the Palestinian National Council, PLO's Executive Committee members, the secretaries-general of all Palestinian factions and independent national personalities.
Abbas said that the internal political division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip makes it difficult to make peace with Israel.
“There would be no peace achieving the aspirations of our people without ending the split,” Abbas said.
